Working (Poor) Families

Transcription

1 Working (Poor) Families Trends in working poverty in Australia Alicia Payne Australian Institute of Family Studies Conference July 2008

2 Working poverty in Australia In Australia working is generally a guarantee against poverty ( the( wage-earners earners welfare state Castles) Tradition of wage regulation, the social wage Australia does not have working poverty in the sense that some other countries do, e.g. US Work-life balance, low fertility rate, expansion of family payments - income support for families a government priority However a proportion of Australian families fall beneath the poverty line in spite of having working members Previous study by Eardley (SPRC)

3 3 Methodology Poverty measurement is contentious ABS Survey of Income and Housing Costs, previous surveys to Poverty line set at half median modified OECD equivalent disposable household income - $591 per week for couple with 2 children Households with 0 or negative incomes removed from sample (Saunders and Bradbury, 2006) Working households: at least one person employed part or full-time, no one self-employed employed in household Results for persons in households, not households

4 Overall and Working Poverty rates Proportion of population (%) Working poverty Overall poverty

5 How many people are in poverty? 1, 171, 900 households below the poverty line 2, 151, 300 people 394, 000 of them children 149, 900 working poor households 429, 500 people 89, 700 of them children 5

6 Proportion of all people in poverty in working households Working 20% Not working or self employed 80% 6

7 Poverty rates for people in working households by composition of workers, Poverty Rate (%) One Part-time worker One Full-time worker Two workers, at least one Part-time 7

8 People in working poor households by worker composition, Two workers, at least one Part-time 31% One Parttime worker 46% One Fulltime worker 23% 8

9 Family type Working poverty Overall poverty Sole parent* 8% Lone person 8% Other* 3% Couple without dep. Children 23% Lone person 31% Other 3% Couple without dep. Children 24% Couple with dep. Children 58% Sole parent 14% Couple with dep. Children 28% 9

10 Overall poverty by family type Poverty rate (%) Couple without dep. Children Couple with dep. Children Sole Parent Lone Person 10

11 40 Rates of poverty and working poverty for couples with children and lone people Poverty rate (%) Couple with dep. Children Working poverty Couple with dep. Children Lone Person Working poverty Lone Person 11

12 Couples with children and lone people as % of those in poverty, Proportion (%) Couple with dep. Children as % working poverty Lone person as % working poverty Couple with dep. Children as % overall poverty Lone person as % overall poverty 12

13 Principal source of income Working poverty Overall Poverty Govt. benefit 32% Other* 8% Wages and salary 60% Govt. benefit 77% Other* 11% Wages and salary 12% 13

14 Number of benefit recipients in household Working poverty Overall poverty Two or more* 25% None 28% Two or more 34% None 11% One 47% One 55% 14

15 Poverty Gap Working poverty Overall poverty $100 or more 52% $0 to $49 33% $100 or more 33% $0 to $49 48% $50 to $99 15% $50 to $99 19% 15

16 Highest qualification of household reference person Working poverty Overall poverty Uni.* 17% Less than year 12 38% Cert. or diploma 24% Uni. 10% Less than year 12 54% 16 Cert. or diploma 28% Year 12 17% Year 12 12%

17 Area of residence Working poverty Overall poverty Rest of state 25% Rest of state 39% Capital city 75% Capital city 61% 17

18 Summary While employment generally keeps Australian households out of poverty, just under 3% of people (429, 500) remain in poverty when someone in the household works Having 2 FT workers does generally keep household incomes above the poverty line, but combinations of less working hours / workers does not necessarily 20% of Australians in poverty live in a household where someone works Profile of working poverty is different to that of overall poverty 18

19 Summary (cont.) People in working poor households are more likely than those in all poor households to: Be couples with children Have wages and salary as principal source of income To have no recipients of government benefits in the household Be in deeper poverty To have higher levels of education To live in capital cities 19

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